Product search systems are often utilized by users who want to research products online. Ranking products is essential for product search systems as well as online shopping Web sites. Most of these systems employ user rating scores to rank the products. However, using the typical 5 star rating scale, it is difficult to differentiate some products, since several products may have similar rating scores or may be rated following differing criteria.
Internet product searches are used to help Web users research and buy products. Search engine companies have developed a variety of different product search systems. These vertical search engines increase the fierce competition of the online shopping market. Many shopping Web sites are already widely used.
In both product search and online shopping systems, a common function is to rank products according to the preference of end users. Since most of these Web sites allow users to give rating scores (typically from 1 to 5 stars) for products, the typical product ranking approach is based on the average score of all ratings given by end users for each product. However, a problem is that the typical 5 star rating scale makes it difficult to differentiate some comparable products. For example, it is common for the first results page of a search to be dominated by products with 4.5 to 5 star ratings. Under the circumstances, it is unclear which products are better than others in light of such close rating scores. Moreover, the review ratings may be assigned following different criteria of different end users. Some users tend to give higher ratings while others consistently offer lower ratings; thus, it is not reliable to rank products based solely on numerical user ratings.
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